Back in your mom’s day, the first place a newly pregnant woman would go for information would be to her doctor or her best friend. Now the Internet is offering new opportunities for meeting up with other parents having similar experiences to yours.

Chat rooms are great places to find others who have babies exactly the same age as yours. You can compare notes and get support when you’re facing something that worries you. Plus, they’re active 24 hours a day, at times when you wouldn’t ordinarily call up a friend to talk. Online friends don’t ask favors, drop in unexpectedly, or want to take valuable hours working through their latest domestic crisis while your baby is crying for your attention.

The Internet also lets parents look for the answer to any question, find almost any research study or public program, and buy just about any baby product ever made, 24 hours a day. There are literally thousands if not millions of sites out there. Unfortunately, it’s sometimes hard to discern reliable information from stuff that is more hearsay than science. And, some sites are pseudo–information givers with hidden advertising agendas.

The resources in this section are designed to serve as an “at-a-glance” guide—a collection of good places to start when you’re looking for information or shopping for baby products. We’ve chosen to list some of the most popular sites for parents to get you going on topics that may be of interest to you.

There’s one word of caution: When it comes to medical information, your baby’s health-care provider is always the best person to consult. If you believe that the medical information you’ve found online is better or more state-of-the-art than what your physician is recommending, then discuss that with him or her and consider asking help in seeking a second opinion, particularly if the problem is serious.